Yitzhak Sapir has elsewhere voiced the following perceptive thoughts, as to
possibilities of why “pharaoh” in Hebrew has the Egyptian R as an R, whereas “
Pithom” in Hebrew has the Egyptian R as an I, not as an R.
”2) Would it then be reasonable to see the development of pr > pi:
within Late Egyptian, whereby in earlier periods of Late Egyptian,
pr was pronounced [pr], while in later times the r became i: giving
[pi:]? Pharaoh was borrowed into Hebrew earlier (for example,
while Egypt dominated Canaan) where Pithom was borrowed later
(from the city Pithom, established in the 7th century BCE, perhaps)?
3) Did this sound change take place in the word Pharaoh after pr
was pronounced [pi:]?”
On the Wellhausen JEPD theory of the Patriarchal narratives and the Book of
Exodus, which holds that both books were composed at about the same time by
basically the same four disparate authors, no sense can be made of this matter.
But by stark contrast, consider how easy this question is answered if, contra
Wellhausen, the Patriarchal narratives are recognized as having been composed
in the mid-2nd millennium BCE, many centuries before the composition of the
Book of Exodus. Now the question answers itself. In the mid-14th century BCE,
the Egyptian R was pronounced R, and so “pharaoh” in the Patriarchal
narratives naturally retains the R. (The Hebrew word “pharaoh” is, as is well
known, very closely related to the Egyptian word for “great house”.) Many
centuries later, when the Book of Exodus was composed, the Egyptian R had come to be
pronounced I, so the Egyptian R is not retained in “Pithom”. “Pithom” is in
the Book of Exodus, but is not in the much older Patriarchal narratives. “
Pharaoh” is all over the Patriarchal narratives, and the later books of the
Bible simply picked up “pharaoh” from the truly ancient Patriarchal narratives.
If we will be brave enough to look at the Patriarchal narratives on their own
terms, and not insist on always looking at the Patriarchal narratives solely
through the lens of the much later Book of Exodus, we may be able to figure
out what the Patriarchal narratives are saying, when they were composed, and who
their author was. No such progress will be made, however, under the
100-year-old Wellhausen theory of the case, which insists, against a mountain of
opposing evidence, that the Patriarchal narratives and the Book of Exodus were
composed at approximately the same time, by approximately the same set of four
disparate authors, and with approximately the same set of opinions. (As to that
last item, the Patriarchal narratives love Egypt, while the Book of Exodus
hates Egypt. But then again, nothing about the 100-year-old Wellhausen theory
makes sense regarding the Patriarchal narratives, so why should anyone be
surprised at the diametrically opposed views of Egypt here?)
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois
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